30 Dec, 2024

Free Hit Chip Guide

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When is the best time to use the free hit chip?

The Free Hit chip is a powerful and pivotal chip in FPL, permitting managers to make limitless transfers for a solitary Gameweek. The Free Hit can be used by managers only once a season. When the Free Hit chip is activated, FPL managers may make as many transfers as they desire, without penalty, but these changes only remain for that single Gameweek, and your team will return to it’s previous iteration after the Gameweek finishes. Nonetheless, the test lies in knowing when to utilise and how to maximise the potential points from your Free Hit chip. Here is a breakdown of the best times throughout the season that managers could activate their Free Hit chip to maximise those returns and climb those rankings and league tables.

Blank Gameweeks

One of the most popular times to use your Free Hit chip is during what is called a “blank Gameweek”. A blank Gameweek is a Gameweek in which multiple teams are not playing, because of FA or EFL Cup fixtures that they must play, with their league games being rescheduled for later dates. The teams often not playing in a blank Gameweek are the better teams in the league such as Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea etc – as they tend to get further in the Cup competitions. Given many of FPL’s best assets come from these teams, these blank Gameweeks can leave our teams looking bare bones with only a few players actually featuring in games.

Activating the Free Hit chip in a blank Gameweek allows managers to flip a tough situation, in which many of your key players do not have a game that week, into one where managers could gain a big differential over opponents. Managers should assess how many of their players have a game that week – if your team cannot field more than 7 players that week, using your Free Hit might be wise. Managers will need to assess what the best teams, players and matchups are to target for that week and that week only – long term value is not a part of the calculation.

Double Gameweeks

One more ideal chance to utilise the Free Hit is during double Gameweeks, where certain teams have 2 matches within 1 Gameweek. BThe argument for activating your Free Hit chip during a double Gameweek is that you can load up your team for that week with who you believe are the best available players who have 2 games that week, elevating the potential for major hauls, without spending points on multiple transfers. Doing this creates a very high ceiling for your points return in the double Gameweek without making major changes to your team for ensuing Gameweeks.

Targeting players who are in good form and have attractive fixtures for that double Gameweek could provide major returns and allow managers to rectify any early season mistakes with incredibly high scoring weeks that give them a major push up the rankings.

Injury of players

At times, your crew might be hit by an unexpected rush of wounds, suspensions, or other unanticipated occasions, leaving you unfit to handle a cutthroat XI without taking weighty focus hits. In such situations, the Free Hit chip goes about as a well-being net, permitting you to make a one-week-just group without influencing your drawn-out plans.

Favourable fixture runs

Another strategy for utilisating the Free Hit chip is to take advantage of a Gameweek where top teams are all facing bottom half of the league teams. For instance teams such as Manchester City, Arsenal or Liverpool have very appealing fixtures in the same week, you can utilise the Free Hit to stack up on their best players for the Gameweek, and fill your bench with the cheapest options in FPL, leaving all of your budget for these premium assets on premium teams. This is a riskier strategy as it hinges on you perfectly anticipating exactly what players and matchups to target that Gameweek and everything playing out as you would anticipate on the surface – which is very often not how sports work. Utilising your Free Hit chip during a blank GW or double GW provides a higher chance of positive results.

Conclusion

The Free Hit chip is a very important chip every season and should be utilised with careful thought, planning and intentional strategic purposes. It is a very useful chip to improve your teams outlook during double or blank Gameweeks, or while pursuing extremely favourable matchups in a given Gameweek. Similarly to the Triple Captain chip, it can provide a huge differential between you and your opponents that can send you shooting up your league tables and the overall rankings if utilised correctly.

Our Transfer Wizard is a great tool to help you select the best options within your budget, whenever you do decide to activate your Free Hit chip.

Last updated: 30/12/24